Australia’s closes at a record high following strong November

The Australian sharemarket traded higher on Monday, managing to pip a previous high, as seven of 11 sectors rose including, tech, consumer facing stocks, energy and materials. The benchmark ASX 200 index rose by 11.7 points or 0.14 per cent to finish the session at 8447.90 points. After trading lower during the afternoon session, the index eventually closed 3.6 points higher than the previous record set on Thursday. Meanwhile the All Ordinaries rose by 5.90 points or 0.07 per cent to close Monday’s session at 8705.00. The Aussie dollar is around US65.01c at 4.45pm AEDT. Australia’s benchmark S & P/ASX 200 index last month had its strongest month since December 2023, up 3.4 per cent across November boosted by optimism over US President-elect Donald Trump’s economic agenda. Monday’s trading continued the positive momentum as Wall Street hit another record high on Friday. Locally retail sales beat market expectations which was good news for consumer staple and discretionary shares, although the stronger sales could delay interest rate cuts. Myer was among the best of the consumer discretionary shares up 12.26 per cent to $1.19 off a strong day while the likes of JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman and Cettire Group all traded higher on Monday. “Unexpectedly high retail sales in October mean it is even less likely the RBA will cut rates in February – a prospect that was already receding, given last week’s high and sticky core inflation figures,” KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne said. There was a notable increase of 0.6 per cent month-on-month in October, surpassing the expected growth of 0.3 per cent and marking the third consecutive rise in retail sales. “The strong figures came even before Black Friday, which we expect to see produce a bumper rise in the November spending data,” Mr Rynne said. The non-discretionary retailers were led by Metcash 2.24 per cent to $3.19 on the back of stronger than expected half-yearly profits. The two majors Coles and Woolworths also gained, 0.7 and 0.5 per cent respectively. The miners and energy sector also traded notably higher with stronger results in the underlying commodity prices. De Grey Mining soared 30 per cent to $1.97 as Northern Star fell 5.3 per cent after agreeing to buy De Grey for $0.119 a share, implying $2.08 a share. De Grey’s biggest stakeholder Gold Road Resources rose 9.4 per cent. Meanwhile, Iron ore miners climbed with Rio Tinto up 0.9 per cent while Fortescue Metal rose 0.26 per cent on speculation that China may hold its Politburo meeting this week amid stimulus hopes. Commonwealth Bank director mining and energy Vivek Shar said the iron ore spot prices rose back above $US105/t on Friday on steel demand hopes. “Markets remain hopeful that policymakers will deploy more stimulus to help support China’s economy,” he said. “However, we think material policy support is unlikely to be announced at the annual Central Economic Work Conference, which is typically held in mid‑December, given the uncertainties facing China’s economy in 2025 are unlikely to clear.”